Sea Band V. PsiBands

**Ok, this post is just my own personal experience with these two products -- this is in no way claiming some sort of "clinical trial level" of accuracy on these products. What works for me, may not work for everyone. I just thought I would share what I’ve experienced in case it is helpful.**

I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with my third. And for some reason this pregnancy has been an entirely more nauseous experience than my first two. For my first two I had the general morning-sickness-queasiness, that wasn’t fun but never made me throw up, and it went away right around the second trimester. This pregnancy has been epically-queasy (like need to lay down to help with the pain, it’s hard to think straight, it’s very hard to pick the right foods to eat, kinda of queasy), with actual throwing up, and is still hanging around good and strong at 19 weeks. 

So that said….

I’ve tried both of these natural remedies as an attempt to function.

They both work on the premise that they apply pressure on the Nei Kuan acupressure point of each  wrist, and that is supposed to help with nausea. 

And in my opinion one product is clearly superior.

Let’s take a closer look.

Here is the inside of each bracelet. The grey knitted one on the left is the sea band. The black plastic one on the right is the PsiBand.

The Sea Band’s plastic stud is much more round and protruding. It is smooth and hard.
The PsiBand has a generally larger surface area of plastic that feels like its coated in something kinda rubbery. Then it has an indent where the pressure-pusher part goes. This part is adjustable, when you twist the white top part it comes out a tiny smidgen. (It never forms the same kind if mound as the sea band.)

The PsiBands biggest attraction is that it comes in different designs and looks more like a bracelet or watch band. And that’s actually what sold me on getting that kind first. (My Vanity won out.  However, this black version wasn’t really my first choice -- it was just what was available short notice.)
Well that and they are waterproof.

So I started wearing the PsiBands and I honestly never noticed any difference in my level of nausea. Very soon I found these bracelets frustrating. The holes made for bracelet tightness are made in such a spacing, that for my wrist they felt either too loose (so that no pressure was applied) or uncomfortably tight.

I would err on the side of tight to try and make the nausea go away. But I honestly can not wear these longer than an hour without my wrists hurting too much for me to bother keeping them on.
The indent starts to feel like it’s cutting into my skin and I just can’t stand it anymore.

After one hour of wear.

That pink-white ring on my wrist is actually raised up like braille. 

It’s not like the worst pain in the world or anything. But it does have a grate on your nerves, “yeah this is pretty horribly uncomfortable” kind of pain that I just don’t feel is worth it in any way.

But in contrast the sea band is elastic, so there is no need to try and figure out how tight it needs to be. You just slide it on the right spot and it feels like a perfect amount of pressure on my wrist. The plastic stud is nearly imperceptible. And I do actually get some nausea relief from this.

Now I’m not saying my nausea goes away. But the level of it is brought down a noticeable amount. It usually can take me from "can’t function" to "functioning just enough." 

And It doesn’t hurt me one bit.

I usually put them on first thing in the morning and take them off before bed -- just to give my skin a break. After a long day my wrist has creasing. And I do look forward to giving my skin a break. But not in a “oh my gosh, get these off of me!” kind of way. 

Personally it’s not been a big deal that I can’t wear them in the shower or bath.

After an entire waking- day’s worth of wear.

So for me the very clear winner is Sea Band!

They do come in a couple colors. So maybe black would be a bit more classy looking? It’s your call.

Personally I don’t mind that it looks like I’m wearing sweat bands all day if it helps me function.

And well, lucky for me, I’m pretty much always in long sleeves (for winter) right now -- so they usually aren’t even seen. But if I am still nauseous this summer I’ll be sporting these with pride. Vanity be dammed -- you get me into too much trouble anyway. 

So I’d recommend them to a friend. I wouldn’t be selling it as a cure-all. But a nice, sort of helps, don’t hurt, kinda thing.

Side Note: With this pregnancy, the actual biggest help I have had with nausea has been to take half a unisom at night. I wasn’t really thrilled to veer off the natural remedy path, but this pregnancy has been too difficult to forgo using some of the bigger guns. So all this acupressure bracelet talk, in my case, has been in conjunction with unisom use. The two things combined have seemed to get me through the days. If I skip one of these helpers (particularly the unisom) I usually feel awful, and it can result in a very tear-filled day. But these sea bands are actual aids in helping with what the unisom hasn’t been able to take away for me.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional of any sort. Always consult with your provider before taking medical advice.